Hi. Welcome to Epiblast! The name is partly inspired by PZ Myers famous blog, Pharyngula partly by the fact that the epiblast, a simple tissue in a developing embryo (labelled 5), gives rise, eventually, to virtually everything inside our body. It's a metaphor for how some of our simple, fundamental ideas vastly affect the other aspects of our life. This blog covers my interests; usually science, medicine, atheism, religion. I might sneak in a bit of philosophy or magic if I feel like it. I warn you, the discussion gets uncomfortable and I come to conclusions which are unconventional, maybe contradictory to yours. Don't go crying to someone if you are offended.

This is the essay I submitted for Gita Jayanti 2008. Someone said it was "casually written", a euphemism for "it sucks" and they refused to give out any prizes at all for any essay in that category. Too bad. Here it is warts and all. It's written for a hindu audience so its got the lingo. Wiki it if you must.

What makes a person fall from the heights of divinity and into a gross and limited existence? This question has been mulled over several times in history in different cultures and metaphysical contexts. In our largely Judeo-Christian zeitgeist the immediate analogy would be that of Adam and Eve where they were tempted to eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge which resulted in them being banished from the Garden of Eden (divinity) with the burden of original sin. Closer to our hearts, the Bhagawatam mentions how souls in swarga who have exhausted their account of meritorious karma return to the earthly plane of existence. On a different level Advaita Vedanta tells us how the Atman takes us a limited form because of its vasanas and comes into this world to fulfill them. Despite their similar symbolism and varying degrees of validity of these ideas, the one which truly concerns us is the more down-to-earth kind mentioned in the second chapter of the Bhagawad Geeta.

Towards the end of the second chapter, Arjuna asks Krishna about the qualities of a Stitha Prajna (one of Steady Wisdom). Apart from simply giving him an answer, he also expounds on how a seeker can fall as follows: constant brooding over sense objects results in attachment towards them. Attachment leads to craving, when this craving is obstructed, anger arises. This anger then makes the seeker deluded. Deluded, he loses his memory and consequently loses his discrimination and perishes.

This serves as a useful warning and upon reflection is a profound concept which we ought to internalise. Consider and example we are all familiar with. Imagine driving a car to the shopping mall. Your mind is saturated with the thought of all the new clothes and gadgets you want to buy with that big fat bonus you earned at the end of the year. One swami called these "electronic vasanas". This constant thinking makes you want them even more and makes you attached to them even before you purchase them. Now you arrive at the parking lots. Since it's a Mega Mall, the car park is seven storeys high and the lack of parking space presents and obstacle to the fulfillment of your desire. You're anger increases proportionally to the level you're at. As you get to the highest level of the car park (and your anger), you still do not see a free parking space and start believing that Indra, together with the other shoppers, is conspiring against you getting the latest HDTV. You are clearly delusional at this point. Your memory has been clouded and so has your reason. Your memory has been clouded and so has your reason. Instead of turning on your right signal, you forget and turn on the wiper instead. As a result you meet with an accident and perish.

All this starts off with a lack of self control and awareness and conversely cultivating these two qualities can help to prevent such an annihilation which is likely why not just the Bhagavad Geeta but many cultures around the world exhort self-control. Despite this, I have analysed these shlokas from various angles and find it important for people to be aware of these.

Reading several commentaries, I have noted how people claim that this "picture of the fall of man" can in no way be improved by a modern psychologist and so on, make various comparisons emphasising the "incompleteness" or "inferiority" of modern psychology. Without a doubt these ideas have been reflected upon thoroughly by our Rishis but have they been objectively tested? Has someone put in great efforts to prove them wrong? Have many others come to the same conclusion? These are the hallmarks of modern science and the comparison made to the description from the Geeta is unfair because it probably has not undergone this "chiseling" by the above process. Nonetheless, I still think that the shloka is generally valid and that our Rishis, five thousand years ago, were rather ahead of their time.

Another issue I thought about is whether these shlokas address a very narrow type of "fall of man". I have isolated strong emotion, or "anger" in the shloka, and a lack of reasoning as crucial in the fall of man and that apply in almost all the situations I can conceive which can lead to someone "perishing". In the case of suicide bombings, we can clearly see hatred resulting in annihilation but this hatred or anger is itself caused by a lack of reasoning or indoctrination. In the case of HIV/AIDS which is a real risk, it would be lust or "craving" in the shloka which causes lack of reasoning and thus the annihilation. There are probably a multitude of examples where the rungs of the ladder do not exactly correspond to the shloka.

Despite that being said, I am confident that a seeker who reads the entire Geeta and diligently applies its precepts will grow to recognize various dangers which might not have been explicitly pointed out out. Just as by knowing the nature of a simple ladder made with plans plus some exposure to a variety of situations, we can recognise and climb a rope ladder, a metal one or even a tree trunk with alternating branches.

Continuing forth, Krishna speaks of self-control. He describes how with practice of self-control, a seeker should have neither attraction nor aversion to sense objects. Eventually, sense objects themselves will cease to disturb him and he will attain peace and joy. Krishna illustrates this with several metaphors and thus concludes the chapter on Sankhya Yoga.